Painting of ‘Chinese Jesus’ found in attic, finally credited

Thursday’s opening night movie in the Center for Asian American Media film festival (CAAMFest) is the documentary “Tyrus,” about 105-year-old artist Tyrus Wong. Wong designed the look and created background landscapes for Disney’s “Bambi,” worked on Warner Bros. productions, and also was a ceramicist, muralist and kite maker. Two years ago, he was the subject of an exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum.

In the Asian Art Museum at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, Supervisor Eric Mar will present the artist with a Tyrus Wong Day proclamation, and Wong will sign a piece of art he made 80 years ago for a church in Los Angeles. The painting — “Chinese Jesus,” 85 inches by 57 inches — was discovered by CAAM board member David Lei in the attic of the Chinese United Methodist Church in San Francisco.

Lei had been researching design in the old theaters of Chinatown, looking for another painting, when he discovered this one, unsigned. He was trying to investigate its origins, when scholar of Chinese art Mark Johnson suggested he consult Wong, who once was leader of the Oriental Artists Association. Wong identified the work as one of his own.

He’d been a young man living in Los Angeles when he painted the work for the Chinese Congregational Church in Los Angeles. The concept was thought to be so startling that the work wasn’t displayed there. When the minister moved from Los Angeles to lead the church here, he brought the painting with him.

The work was shellacked, is turning yellow and needs some restoration, says Lei. He’s hoping to raise money to restore it, and after that, to place it in a museum. Meanwhile, it’s to be shown at the Asian Art Museum for one day only, all day Thursday.

Thanks to Jamie Jobb for this citation in the police report of the Martinez Tribune: “At 3 p.m., a man reported that his ex-girlfriend had covered his car with fish. Any other damage was unknown. This apparently has been an on-going problem.”

And in that romantic vein: I was pursuing dirt, so when Vanityfair.com posted a story headlined “Silicon Valley’s Hottest Deal: The Pre-Nup,” I turned to it with shovel in hand. However, the writer’s sunny point of view left little to be excavated. Everything’s hunky-dory in Silicon Valley marriage-land, said the story, which quotes divorce lawyer Diana Richmond on the “Stanford phenomenon,” marriages between “bright and motivated people who they’ve been with for years, often before the success, and learned how to trust each other and really partner with. That’s such a good indicator, I would say, that a (starter wife) is not a phenomenon in this community.”

P.S.: As long as the subject is starter wives, and re-starter wives, and for that matter, starter wife III, congratulations to the fourth Mrs. Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall. May they grow old together ... oh, wait a minute.

P.P.S.: Observing that the Rolling Stones will play a free concert in Havana on March 25, Matt Regan hopes they kick it off with “I Can’t Gitmo Satisfaction.”

More by Leah Garchik

Prince turned up late Thursday at one of San Francisco’s most popular restaurants, decided not to stay and eat, and took away takeout instead. The reason he didn’t stay, I hear, is that he required that every table adjacent to his be vacated, and the restaurant owners couldn’t clear an entire section. They’re hoping that some arrangement can be worked out for future visits.

He also spent some post-show wee-ish hours (5 to 6 a.m.) at Bob’s Donuts on Polk. There, sitting at the counter with a woman and a security man, he talked and joked with Bob’s regulars, most of whom, I’m told, didn’t know who he was.

Economist Michael Boskin, professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, was serving as adviser to Ronald Reagan during one of his presidential campaigns. Deep in the Virginia countryside, a team of supporters — Boskin, Jeane Kirkpatrick and George Will — prepped the candidate by firing questions at him with a mock debate. Nancy Reagan, recalls Boskin, “brought food around, served snacks to us ... was completely unostentatious.” Far from images of grandeur, “my remembrance,” said Boskin, “is of a gracious person trying to help her husband.”